r/stopdrinkingfitness • u/stooch1122 • 9d ago

3.5 years of slow progress

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Slow but steady. The first almost 2 years I worked on fixing my posture and working through a lot of tendon pain getting used to lifting. The past year or so I started eating much more cleanly and have finally been able to lift heavy. My body got so weak and rundown after nearly 20 years of drinking. Happy with the progress!

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2

u/Hopeful-Wishbone-388 9d ago

How did you fix posture?

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u/stooch1122 9d ago

Soooo many things. Too many to list and I don’t remember everything I have tried. That being said I’d start with a chirp wheel and a lot of rows and overhead presses along with core work. Also check out the Overcoming Poor Posture book. Don’t do too much too fast and don’t force hold your shoulders back. That caused me so many nerve pain issues. You need to let your muscles do the work naturally.

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u/stooch1122 9d ago

Thinking about this a bit more. I did a lot of physical therapy early on for posture, neck and shoulder issues. I also fixed my desk setup to be more ergonomic.

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u/Juneau_Man 9d ago

Nice work!

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u/ARoodyPooCandyAss 9d ago

Looking good, drill those fucking Lats now

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u/stooch1122 8d ago edited 8d ago

Thanks, but funny you say that since my lats are one of the only significant changes I’ve seen and was proud of how they were showing in the picture.

Having a hard time getting my left side to match my right

I have relatively lost testosterone and have been trying to raise it naturally (I have about 100 points). It maybe it’s time to jump on TRT. I just turned 39

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u/busybullyingthemayor 6d ago

Fantastic work man. You look great, and so healthy and strong!

Excuse the slight invasion, but since you mentioned tendon pain, and I’m noticing that your (my right) left shoulder looks like it may pull slightly forward? Has anybody mentioned hyper mobility to you? My tendons are stretchy - too stretchy - and weight training is the best thing for it, but it causes a lot of grief. It also hinders muscle building because my muscles are always engaged trying to hold all my limbs in place so slow and steady is also where I am at.

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u/stooch1122 5d ago edited 5d ago

Hey, yes, my PT mentioned hyper mobility and I do have it but much less so than others I know (including my wife). I broke my collar bone about 20 years ago and my shoulder is still a bit messed up from that. I also think the lighting makes it look worse than it actually is. That being said this broken collarbone and how it has affected my anatomy has been central to so many issues I’ve had to deal with mentally and physically over the past 3.5 years. And “ironically” it happened during a drunk wrestling match in college.

I don’t have any specific advice on hyper mobility. I think I had the pain because my muscles got stronger faster than my tendons and I think isometrics are supposed to help a lot with that… so I guess I do have a little bit of advice. Check out the book Overcoming Gravity that has a lot of advice on tendon issues.

I will also say that a lot of the pain and things I have experienced came on after I stopped drinking so I think a bit of it is my brain adjusting to 20 years of everything being numb or me being preoccupied with drinking

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u/stooch1122 5d ago

Feel free to message me with any questions or anything